Coach Maddie and the Marine

by Edens, Blaire

  Together, they’d constantly remind each other of the past.

  They needed to get through this season and go their separate ways.

  End of story.

  ...

  Andrew answered the door when David arrived on Sunday.

  “What’s up, Andrew?”

  “Not much. Just waiting for Aunt Maddie to get out of the shower so she can fix lunch. I’m starving.” His brown eyes had the look of a hound’s—wet, earnest, and begging.

  “What do you want?” he asked, following Andrew into the kitchen.

  “A peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a glass of milk.”

  “Can you make it for yourself?”

  “Yeah.” Andrew pointed to the cabinet to the right of the sink. “Plates are in there. I’ll get the jelly and stuff.”

  After the child assembled all the ingredients on the counter, David said, “Remember, no double dipping. Here’s a paper towel to wipe the knife between the jelly and the peanut butter.”

  “Gotcha,” Andrew said.

  He watched as Andrew took his time, spreading the jelly, and then the peanut butter evenly across the slice of bread.

  “Looks perfect, huh?”

  David shrugged his shoulders. “The taste test is the only way to go. Give it a shot.”

  Andrew smiled and took a huge bite of the sandwich. “It’s good.”

  “Always tastes better when you make it yourself, huh? I’ll take care of these dishes while you eat.” The sink was full of breakfast dishes.

  By the time he heard Maddie padding down the hallway toward the kitchen, he’d wiped down the counters, taken the trash to the can in the garage, and put in a new liner. Andrew, finished with his sandwich, had gone into his room and shut the door behind him.

  He was loading the dishwasher when he smelled her. He savored the sultry scent of roses right after a soft summer rain, mixed with the smell of a woman. It drove him wild.

  He had to stop arriving just as she was getting out of the shower.

  Or he had to ask her to stop wearing that perfume for the balance of the football season.

  “I had no idea you were here,” she said.

  He pushed the top rack into the dishwasher and turned to face her.

  Standing in the doorway leading from the hallway, her eyes were wide and she held the collar of her thin robe, pink cotton with tiny little rosebuds, tightly closed. It was tied with a narrow belt just below her waist. He couldn’t stop staring at the tiny beads of water on the side of her neck. He imagined the droplets lining the inside curves of her breasts.

  Her hair was still wet and it hung in loose, dark copper curls. He wanted to slip his palm underneath, letting the hair tickle the back of his hand as he pulled her to him and claimed her lips.

  The possibility that she was naked beneath the robe was nearly more than he could handle.

  She stepped backward. “I’ll be right back. I need to get dressed.” Her face flushed.

  “No need on my account.” He imagined pulling the belt on her robe loose. He would love to watch the robe fall to the floor in a pink puddle around her feet as he took her into his arms and felt the wet, steamy heat of her. “I’d rather see you in a robe than a fancy evening gown any day.”

  “Ha. Very funny.” She pivoted on one heel and dashed down the hallway.

  He turned back to the dishes and tried to get his mind back on track.

  When she came back into the kitchen a few minutes later, she was dressed in loose shorts and a faded T-shirt. “Way to sneak up on a girl,” she said.

  “I’m sorry. I thought you knew I was here.”

  “Thanks for doing the dishes,” Maddie said. She bent to grab a diet cola from the now spotless fridge. She placed it on the counter and popped it open. “Do you do windows, too, Lieutenant?”

  There also needed to be a cease-fire on the flirting.

  She had no idea what else he could do.

  Her position allowed him a small peek at the inside of her leg. He felt himself harden. If the sight of her in her robe was tempting, the sight of her bent over with her head in the fridge was torture.

  Thank God he’d worn jeans. Sweatpants would’ve given him away for sure.

  “With the right incentive,” he said, thankful his voice didn’t slide into a lower octave. He sat in one of the kitchen chairs before she turned to face him.

  “So let’s plan the practice so I can have a few football-free hours to myself this afternoon,” she said, munching on a baby carrot. She sat in the chair across from him. “I can’t think about it much more or my head might explode. Where’s Andrew?”

  “He went to his room after he ate his sandwich.”

  “Andrew,” Maddie called. “Come here, please.”

  Andrew ambled into the room and sat in one of the chairs.

  David asked him, “Do you remember what position everyone played last year? I think our best strategy will be to put players in the same place this year, unless they were terrible in their position last year. In that case, we’ll want to move them somewhere else.”

  “I remember the roster from last year. A couple of the guys moved so we have two or three new players.”

  “Maddie, go get your notebook and let’s write this down.”

  She retrieved the notebook from the sofa and walked back into the kitchen.

  “Okay, let’s go step by step. I’ll call out the position and you tell me the name.”

  It only took a couple of minutes to list everyone. Then Maddie compared them with her sign-up sheet.

  “We’re missing a center, two defensive linemen, and a right guard. We have four new players, so I guess we can put them in those holes.”

  “Robbie Carroll is new this year. He’s a pretty big kid but he can’t run very fast. He might be good for center,” Andrew said.

  “That’s easy. I’ll put him there.” She penciled his name onto the roster.

  “Let’s look at them and see who might be best at each position,” David said. “We need to size each of them up before you decide. You’re the coach. You make the final decision. Just because a kid likes playing a certain position doesn’t mean it’s the best place for him. You have to put him where he’s best so that the team wins. It’s all about the end of the season record, not what one individual wants.”

  “That makes sense. Okay, so we have most of the players assigned to positions, at least for now. So what should we do in tomorrow’s practice?”

  “We’ll start by lining everyone up and announcing their position. We can make adjustments during the first game. By next week, when we’ve seen them practice a couple of times and play a game, we can make a more permanent roster. We’ll also need to pass out the equipment.

  “I’d suggest a couple of warm-up exercises, some stretching, and a couple of laps around the track. Then we’ll work on some offensive drills, take a short water break and then finish up with some defensive drills.”

  “I have no idea what a drill should consist of. Will you lead them?” Maddie asked.

  “You’re the coach. But, since you’re a rookie, I’ll lead them tomorrow. You have to throw in suggestions every now and then to at least make it look like you know what you’re doing. But I think you should lead the discussion on penalties.”

  “I don’t think I’m ready. We’ve barely covered them, plus all those hand signals look so dumb, I can’t help but laugh when you demonstrate them.”

  “Well, funny or not, I’m going to teach you those tomorrow night, so you’ll be ready to demonstrate them on Tuesday.”

  “All right. So all that stuff should take an hour right?”

  “Hopefully it will take a little more than an hour. You never want to end a practice early. Makes the players get soft.”

  “The players are only eight years old,” she said, rolling her eyes. “How hardened can they possibly be?”

  “Andrew here looks like a pretty tough competitor.” He tapped the kid on the bicep with his f
ist. “Easy coaches don’t turn out winning teams.”

  Maddie pointed to the clock on the microwave. “Well, guys, that’s it. The thirty minute football planning session is finished. I even gave you an extra two minutes. Now I’m going into the living room, getting comfy on the sofa, and diving into the new fat novel I bought at the bookstore.” She waved as she walked out of the kitchen.

  “Aunt Maddie,” Andrew shouted at her back, “is it one of those novels with the cheesy covers?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Cheesy covers?” David asked, quirking his left eyebrow.

  “Yeah, you know the ones with a man with long blond hair and no shirt on? He’s usually kissing a woman who’s wearing a really tight, old-fashioned dress. Aunt Maddie’s really into falling in love and romance and stuff.”

  “Really?” That didn’t sound like the same woman who’d politely told him she wasn’t ready for a new man in her life. Not that he was interested in a relationship anyway.

  “Do you want to go for a milkshake while your Aunt Maddie reads her cheesy novel?”

  “Yes, sir,” Andrew answered with enthusiasm.

  “Maddie,” he said, stepping into the living room. “Is it okay if we go out for a milkshake?”

  “Sure,” she called from the sofa.

  “You want anything?”

  “I like delivery service,” Maddie said, barely looking up from the pages of her book. “Will you bring me a root beer float with vanilla ice cream and a cherry on top?”

  “No problem. We’ll be back in a little while.”

  They walked out the kitchen door into a blindingly bright day. He slipped his sunglasses on and turned to Andrew. “So what’s your favorite treat?” They walked toward the drugstore.

  “I usually order a chocolate malt with extra malt powder. Sometimes Miss Weaver gives me two cherries instead of one.”

  “Awesome.”

  “She feels sorry for me because my mom is deployed.” Andrew kicked a small pebble with the toe of his sneaker.

  “That must be tough. I’ll bet you miss your mom a lot.”

  “Yeah, but Aunt Maddie’s cool. She takes good care of me. And she lets me do stuff that my mom won’t.”

  He laughed. “Like what?”

  “I don’t have to make my bed every morning. She never checks, usually because we’re running late.”

  That sounded more like Maddie.

  “When’s your mom coming home?”

  “In about three months. But I try not to think about it too much. The more I think about it, the longer it seems.” He looked up at David and tried to smile. Instead the kid looked pitiful.

  He heard the hurt in the kid’s voice. He was trying to play it off but it was there, just underneath the surface. He’d bet there were plenty of nights Andrew had cried himself to sleep.

  “Well, she’ll be home before you know it. Come on,” he said, opening the door to the drugstore so Andrew could slip in underneath his arm, “let’s go see if Miss Weaver will give you an extra cherry.”

  Chapter Six

  The drugstore looked like something straight out of a 1950s magazine. Along one wall was the pharmacy, on the other was a large soda fountain, complete with red upholstered stools. It was nearly empty this morning so he and Andrew had their pick of seats.

  “Let’s sit in the middle,” he said, hopping onto a stool and patting the one next to him for Andrew. The boy clambered up, all legs and knees and bony arms. “What looks good?”

  A large chalkboard behind the counter listed all the current ice cream flavors. Shakes, malts, and floats of all sizes and flavors.

  “I’ll take a chocolate malt shake.”

  “With a cherry?”

  Andrew smiled and nodded. “Maybe two,” he whispered.

  Miss Weaver, dressed in a printed cotton dress and a crisp apron, ran her hand along the counter. “Hey there, Mr. Ingle. What can I do for you and your friend today?”

  Andrew scooted closer to the counter. “I’ll take the usual. He wants a strawberry shake.”

  David smiled. Only eight years old and already so adept at ordering. “Bring me the tab,” he said. Miss Weaver winked at him and started dipping the ice cream.

  When she’d placed two tall glasses and two metal ones in front of them, she said, “Here you are, fellas. Enjoy.”

  “Four cherries?” he asked, looking at Andrew’s shake.

  “She thinks I’m cute.”

  “Obviously.” He took a sip of the rich strawberry shake. “No wonder you like this place. You must come here pretty often.”

  Andrew nodded. “We do. Aunt Maddie always gets a root beer float.”

  He tucked that little tidbit into his mental filing cabinet. Just in case he needed it later.

  “I’m glad she has me,” Andrew said. “She’s pretty lonely.”

  “I’m sure she has plenty of friends.”

  “Not really. She just works and takes care of me.”

  His heart squeezed. There was no reason in the world a woman like Maddie shouldn’t have a life filled with friends and fun. And love.

  He’d taken that away from her. If Frank had been anywhere but with him, he might still be alive. The old, familiar guilt surged again.

  “Maybe she likes it that way,” he said.

  Andrew shrugged. “Maybe.”

  ...

  The stack of patient files Maddie had been updating since noon had finally begun to shrink into something that was at least manageable. She hated bringing work home, especially when there was so much she needed to do to make sure the house ran smoothly. Grocery shopping, loads and loads of laundry, homework help. But since her home office was so much more relaxing, she tended to get things done much faster than at her too bland office at the mental health center.

  At ten minutes to five, she’d closed the last folder and leaned back in her chair. David should be arriving any minute. She rose, stretched, and headed for the bathroom. Her makeup could use a little freshening up.

  Not that she cared about her appearance around him. Not really.

  She spritzed perfume on her neck and applied pink lip gloss. When she looked in the mirror she was surprised to see that her cheeks had a rosy glow and her eyes looked large and bright. She frowned.

  She wasn’t supposed to be excited about David and the football lesson.

  Footsteps clomped up the steps leading to the porch. When he knocked, she took a deep breath and tried to sound casual. “Come on in. It’s unlocked.”

  She stayed in the bathroom until she heard the front door close. She willed her heart to stop beating so quickly.

  When she walked into her living room, her heart picked up the rhythm again.

  He was still in uniform.

  He filled it out perfectly. His broad shoulders and narrow hips were made to wear the pressed and tailored camouflage. He looked like he’d walked right off the cover of one of her romance novels.

  Something sizzled, deep in her belly, a slow heat building flicker by flicker.

  And for the first time, she was willing to admit that it was more than just attraction. Judging by the electricity buzzing through her body, her feelings for him were beginning to deepen.

  His usual easy smile was nowhere to be seen. He looked worried.

  “Did you have a long day?”

  “It was the longest one I’ve had in a while,” he answered. “I’ve been at work for almost thirteen hours.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  He shook his head. “I’d love to talk about it, but I can’t. Most of the stuff I do on a daily basis is so boring it’s hard to stay awake. But that doesn’t mean I can discuss any of it. A lot of the information that comes across my desk is top secret.”

  “What exactly do you do for the Corps?”

  “Officially, I’m the attaché to General Rodgers.”

  She heard the reluctance in his voice and it was apparent that he wasn’t going to tell her anything more
than his job title, at least not at the moment. She’d learned over the years that when dealing with the military, the unofficial job description was much more important, and revealing, than the official one.

  “I’m sorry you had a rough day. Hungry?”

  “Maybe a little, but I’ll pick something up on the way home. We’ll get started in a few minutes. I just want to sit here and clear my head for a second.”

  She nodded. Sensing that he needed a few minutes alone, she walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She pulled out the pork chops she’d picked up earlier and set them on the counter. She put a pot of water on the stove for the rice and warmed a frying pan. The pork chops sizzled when she threw them in the hot oil. She seasoned and browned them perfectly. Less than thirty minutes later, she had a southern meal ready for him.

  “Would you like gravy on your rice?” she asked.

  “Did you say gravy?” He came into the kitchen and took a deep breath. “That smells like heaven.” His eyes danced with delight.

  “Yep. I’ve got pork chops with rice and gravy. The meal is certainly not heart healthy, but I hope they taste pretty good,” she said. She reached into the fridge for the iced tea pitcher. “Want some?”

  He nodded.

  She centered the two plates on the lemon-colored placemats and poured the tea. He sat down, and she pulled out the chair across from him, sat, and placed her napkin on her lap.

  “How did you know this was my favorite meal?”

  “I didn’t, but it’s good to know that you’re easy to please.”

  “You have no idea.” He winked at her and she felt her face flush.

  She was beginning to think he used flirting as a way to defuse an awkward or difficult situation. A defense mechanism.

  “Is that so?”

  He dove into the meal like he hadn’t eaten in days. She refilled his glass as she watched him gulp down rice. Glad she’d cooked four chops instead of two, she added another piece of meat to his plate.

  “This is amazing. I could get used to eating like this.”

  Maddie laughed. “I’m glad you like it. Although the way you’re laying waste to those pork chops, I’m not sure I could afford to feed you.” She took a small bite of her dinner.

  “Sorry. I usually have better manners, but I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” David looked around the kitchen. “I just noticed the quiet. Where’s Andrew?”